The Half Dead Girl
by his-little-troll
Summary: Kagome's been sick all her life. The doctors have insisted, all her life, that nothing's wrong. She's in perfect health, except for the constant headaches and the fatigue and every other thing that's wrong with her. One day, she hears a bell-chime. In her forest, she discovers a secret. Someone's bound to a tree, and she's going to save them.
1. Chapter One Happy Birthday Kagome

Hollars 12

 **The Half Dead Girl**

 **An AU where Kagome never falls in the well, but she still has the jewel in her, and Kikyo was still brought to "life" in the past- but without freeing Inuyasha from the tree.**

 **Chapter One: Happy Birthday, Kagome!**

Kagome was always sick.

They never knew what was wrong with her. Her grandpa had spent most of her childhood coming up with more and more outrageous tests to put her through. The doctors eventually turned him and her both away when he drug her, ten years old, to the nurse with a claim that it had to be a severe case of gout causing her pain and making her sickly. She'd turned red beneath her black hair, shuffling on her feet as the nurse rolled her eyes.

Kagome had known, of course, that he was only trying to help, but she'd missed so much school. She missed her friends—her friends who asked what she'd been in the hospital for this time, with a laugh, as if it was always a joke—and she missed her textbooks. History was her favorite. It called to her, like some happy memory from far, far away.

When she twelve years old, she'd ran off into the forest. She was tired of sitting indoors, of watching Sota (healthy, energetic Sota) running in the dirt outside.

The forest was only small, and no one ever ventured inside. Kagome was always too nervous to mention it. Something about it was dark, but not in an ominous way.

It sounded like a lullaby, a cool blue shadow on a hot day to nap under. It called to her like history did, and Kagome wondered sometimes if there was magic inside. Magic that could fix her, could take away this sickness she always felt.

Until she was twelve, she'd been too afraid to enter the woods. But then she'd heard it.

It wasn't her name, but it was the same shape. It was the same feeling in her mind, like a bell that chimed only for her.

And she'd run to it. She'd run barefoot, faster than she had in her entire life, jumping over trickling, dying streams and thin, gnarled roots. Kagome crashed through the trees like a lame animal until she felt the pulse of her heart thump heavy in her chest, and her lungs squeezed gasps of air out in painful puffs.

She'd stopped in front of a tree. It was greater than her arms could reach around and tall enough that she couldn't see the top. It wove into the rest of the small forest, branches tangling with branches, moss hanging from it in strange, stringy vines.

She'd heard the sound again, this monumental chiming, and it tugged at some long forgotten string inside her.

The tree was hollow, curved and gnarled around cobwebs and inverted roots.

She tried to stave off the curiosity.

 _You know what your bones are like, Kagome. You'll climb up there and fall right down and break something._

She'd never actually broken a bone before, but that was only by some strange miracle. She'd expected it to happen often.

She'd never been good at listening to anyone, though. And most especially not herself.

So she climbed up, brushing the cobwebs from the inside.

It felt like a fairy tale, for a moment. Sunlight spilled weak between the leaves, a warm nudge in the strange tree's direction.

Its roots were easy to climb, though they seemed to shift and tremble beneath her feet. It was as if the tree, too, was excited for what she might find.

Her hands connected against something warm, something puffing warm breaths against her fingers. She'd jerked her hand back, screaming. Her scream died in her throat.

Inside the tree was someone. Someone alive.

Kagome leaned forward, pulling away dead leaves and bits of twigs, until she found a girl.

A girl with white hair. Her face was all fine bones and high cheeks and soft honey-gold skin. Ears like a cat's rested on top of her head, velvety beneath her fingers. Kagome jerked her hand away again, looking behind her at the pile of junk she'd removed from the strange girl's resting place.

She placed her hands against the girl's cheek, feeling the burning warmth of skin against her skin. Very alive skin, not cold or stiff or rotten with the stink of death.

Kagome took a step away, tried to breathe through the surprise, and then went back to look again.

There was something, something broken and sharp sticking from the girl's chest, right above where her heart should be.

It didn't seem to bother the girl at all.

Kagome bit her lip, climbing the roots again, struggling to keep her footing as everything shifted and twisted below her.

She wrapped her hand around the shaft stuck in the girl's chest, pulled.

Nothing happened. The girl didn't even wake up.

Kagome felt the thin sliver of wood pulse in her hand, barely a ba-bump in her palm.

She screamed, and this time, she didn't stop until she'd reached her home, out of breath and covered in bruises.

She hadn't even felt them.

The forest became her new favorite place to go.

She never quite memorized the way to the tree. It was impossible to keep track of her steps in the forest. It was dense and green and full of black bark. The lullaby softness of it lulled Kagome into wandering, and her feet always wandered back to the place where the girl slept.

The girl, who had remained alive and asleep and bound to the tree by whatever stuck in her chest, was Kagome's secret. When she sat at home, too frail to go to school for the day, her hands cold and her heart feeling too slow and heavy, she wondered about the girl in the forest.

She wondered what color her eyes were.

Were they blue, like the ocean in a storm?

Were they green, like the stark contrast of new leaves on the old forest floor?

Were they brown, like the rich earth laying and waiting and growing new things?

Kagome liked to imagine that they were some other color altogether. When the girl opened her eyes, Kagome would discover a new color, and that color would change her world.

Somewhere between fourteen and fifteen, she fell in love with a girl in a tree. A girl who listened to all her secrets, who's face shifted in the changing hours of sunlight. Kagome knew that all she had was an idea of a person, but it was a truly lovely idea. And despite herself, she fell in love.

She dated. She dated a boy in school who had the exact shade of blue she imagined the girl might have, his smile all teeth and his kisses harsh and hungry. Koga had touched every part of her body at sixteen, and he had declared her to be his the moment he laid eyes on her.

People hadn't understood why she'd bother with him, who wore leather and played with knives, and shouted more than he talked.

But he also ran track, and brought her crushed flowers, and when he took her out, they stood in his group of friends like a bodyguard. She'd never felt safe before, but Koga had almost taken her there.

Then he'd asked her if she loved him and she remembered the girl, sleeping in the forest, and the tight-tug of that bell chime calling her back.

And they'd broken up.

Hojo had pursued her all through high school, and she'd never once dated him. His hands were too gentle, his smile too wide. There was something in him that left her sighing and waiting and wondering while he talked to her of books and medicine and her many years of illness. Maybe it was that he thought he could heal her, and she'd forever given up on being healed. She didn't want it, didn't need it. She'd finally stuffed one of his home remedies for chronic pain back into his arms and told him to fuck off.

It had been the talk of the town for her entire last year of school.

She'd broken poor Hojo's heart, and now no guy or girl would touch her.

At seventeen, she didn't care.

Then, her eighteenth birthday came, and her world was upturned in one swift kick.

The girl in the tree woke up.

"Kagome, are you sure you're up to going out to the forest today?" Her mother's voice rang from the kitchen, and Kagome stifled a groan.

They only cared.

A lot.

Enough to ask nearly every time she left if she was up to it.

"I'm fine mom. Come on, it's my eighteenth birthday! Let me do something just once without acting like it's going to break me." Kagome's toothpaste fell back into the sink. She cursed at it, then put more on. "I've been to the forest a hundred times by now, there's nothing in there going to eat me."

"Then at least let someone go with you." Her mother's voice was right outside the door now, and Kagome felt a beat of guilt.

She shook it off. Today was the day she was going to go up to that girl, and wake her up. One way or another, that girl was getting away from that tree.

Kagome only hoped it wouldn't kill the girl before she ever learned her name.

"Mom, the forest is the one place—"

"That is all for you." Her mother sighed. "Yes, I know dear."

And she did know. They'd had this conversation a hundred times before.

 _We only want to protect you, dear._

Kagome finished running the brush over her teeth. She'd always had good teeth.

She'd always had good everything. She had good bones, she had good teeth, she had a good liver and good kidneys and if she never heard the word good again, she'd jump for joy. Being good had never made her healthy and it was the most frustrating part of everything.

Her doctors had told her that she was making up her illness, for attention or out of spite or to skip school.

They never seemed to care that she was exhausted walking up the stairs, that she had headaches nearly every day of her life, that all her joints and muscles ached when she ran in gym or stood for work.

Or climbed the shifting roots of the Girl's Tree.

Kagome bit the inside of her cheek, the minty fresh toothpaste leaving a cold residue against her tongue. "I promise, I'll be back in the morning mom. I just want to spend this day by myself. We can go get Udon for tomorrow night."

She pushed the door open and her mom pulled her into a hug. "Alright, honey. Just be careful, okay?"

"Promise, mom." Kagome smiled, burying her head into her mom's shoulder for just a moment. "Hey, save some cake for me, yeah mom?"

"It's _your_ birthday, dear. Of course we'll…" Her mom's smile faltered. "I'll hide some from your grandfather."

"Thanks!" Kagome swiped up her backpack, trying to hide the bursting seams from her mother. "Make sure he doesn't eat it all!"

"Happy birthday, dear!" Her mother called behind her as she rushed from the back door, crashing through the small yard and into the trees beyond before anyone could ask her why she had a pick, a shovel, and several other tools stuffed haphazardly into her backpack.

Turned out, she didn't need any of them.

But that didn't stop her from dragging the bag through the forest and yanking it off of snared branches and throwing it down several times in fits of frustration.

By the time she reached the girl, her hands were covered in small cuts and her arms and legs were smudged with dark bruises.

She was more angry than excited.

Until she saw the girl's eyes, closed as always, and realized she might see the actual color for once.

Kagome set to work, but the tree was hard as iron. No matter how many times she swung the pick axe at its trunk, it wouldn't chip. She tried to dig up the roots, but they only seemed to shift and slither away from her. She'd tried to cut out the back of the tree, where whatever pierced the girl must be stuck, but her grandfather's collectible sword only hacked at the leaves and left them in scattered pieces on her feet.

"I am so sick of this, do you hear me?" Kagome shouted, and it felt good to shout. It felt like her lungs filling up, like her anger blowing out of her in a heavy wind. "I want you to wake up! I want to know what you sound like! I want to see your eyes! I want you to be more than a person I've made up in my head!"

She hadn't realized she was crying, but at some point she had.

She'd fallen during her tirade, a cut on her knee and a rip in her shirt.

It was a nice shirt, pink and lace and a sweetheart cut. Kagome had picked it out just for this occasion over a year ago.

And nothing was going as she'd expected.

"Wake up, damn you!" She scrambled back up the roots, her fist pounding against the girl's chest. She growled in frustration when nothing happened.

She'd always been a patient girl. Never good at listening, but she'd always known how to wait for what she'd wanted.

She'd waited to stop being so sick, and that had never came.

She'd waited to feel the bell-chime call from someone else, and no one had ever reached her.

She'd waited until she was 18, until she wasn't too young or too naïve or too anything, to come save this girl.

And now.

Now she wasn't strong enough to break this tree.

Kagome shouted again, her hand wrapping around the splintered, moss covered shaft in the girl's chest, and pulled.

It was a last attempt, a desperate grab she hadn't expected to work.

But then she was falling back, the broken thing sliding away easily into her hand.

It was an arrow, the arrowhead still slick with red-hot blood. Kagome screamed, still falling, and wondered if she'd killed this girl she'd placed all her hopes in.

Something reached out and grabbed her, too strong, too solid to be a person.

Fingers popped as they tightened on her arm, nails digging too sharp into the sleeves of her shirt. It hurt, and it was frightening, and this wasn't going as planned.

Kagome's eyes were scrunched shut. This touch couldn't be the girl's touch, because the girl had never looked anything but peaceful and a bit sorry in the tree.

"You're wrong."

The voice that spoke wasn't a bell-chime. It wasn't sugar-soft or princess sweet. It didn't sound like some maiden graciously accepting the help of her savior.

It sounded like a thousand years of dry throat and a biting edge of nightmares.

"W-what?" Kagome squeaked, and finally she peeked out from her lashes. The eyes were gold, and they were open wide, staring at her.

"You're wrong. You smell wrong." And suddenly those eyes were close to hers, a warm nose nudging against her neck. "You smell like her, but different too. What did you do to Kikyo?"

There was something… Kagome recognized something like hope in this person's voice. And she recognized something else. "You're not a girl."

"I'm—" The person stopped, their mouth falling open. "I'm not a girl! Of course I'm not a girl! Now I know you're not her!"

"I'm Kagome. I thought you were a girl." Kagome reached out, carefully, and patted the spot where the arrow used to be. "You had an arrow in your chest."

"Yeah, I've been hurt worse. What do you mean you thought I was a girl?" The voice snarled and the hand on her arm dropped.

"Well, you didn't really look like a boy, with the… with the hair and all." But now that Kagome looked at the person, standing and out from the shadow of the tree, out from the twist of branches and the ever-returning cobwebs, they didn't look like a girl.

"I'm not a boy either!" The person crossed their arms, then flinched. "I'm a demon. Now, where's Kikyo?"

"Who's Kikyo?" Kagome frowned. There hadn't been any girls named Kikyo in her class, or any other classes from around here that she knew of. Then again, who knew how long this girl had been in the tree.

Kagome felt shame flash through her, but brushed it away. If someone had been looking for a girl—no, a demon—with cat ears and silver hair, she'd have known by now. "What's your name? How long have you been stuck to this tree?"

"I don't know." They were exasperated at first, but then Kagome saw the realization dawn on them. "I don't know… What… Where's Kikyo?"

"I don't know who Kikyo is, but I'm Kagome." She reached out her hand, but the demon knocked her away. They still stared down at her, though, a fight raging in their eyes.

"You look just like her…"

"But I'm—"

Then the demon ran away, and took all of her hopes of a girl to love with them.


	2. Chapter Two: Demon in the City

**Chapter Two: Demon in the City**

Kagome spent the rest of the night by the tree.

An ache, unlike the other aches that plagued her, had begun to build in her chest.

She'd lied to herself. For years. For six years, she'd built up this person in the tree. She'd placed all her trust in this image in her head of a beautiful girl to love her, to need her.

She wondered if she'd have even liked this forest without the girl there.

It didn't feel like a lullaby any more. The darkness had changed without the girl in the tree.

The silence was like the second before crashing into the ground. Like the moment before too-solid hands reached her, before something pulled her down into the roots and the earth. She wondered if the tree would need a new girl. The dread in the air kept her awake, kept her fidgeting in the cold ground.

She rubbed at her legs, at the pain building above her knee.

Not girl.

 _"_ _I'm not a boy either. I'm a demon."_

Kagome turned on the hard ground. It made her already sore joints stiff, but she lay there anyway.

She'd thought she'd be returning with her fairy tale girl. She hadn't packed anything for sleeping. She hadn't thought she'd need it.

She'd had so many questions.

The sound of the demon's voice, gravelly and pained and fearsome, sent a shiver up her spine.

She buried her head in her arms and cried.

The tears came until she was all emptied out, all her anger and disappointment spilled onto her ruined shirt.

She looked back at the tree.

She frowned. Something was different about it.

The roots didn't move, didn't shift under her feet any more. It was harder to climb than it ever had been. She had to pause halfway up, breathing heavy and tired. "Stupid tree. You've tricked me for years."

It rustled its leaves at her. Or maybe that was just the breeze filtering down from high in the sky. She couldn't tell any more. She'd always thought of the tree as being alive, but now that feeling was missing. Maybe it was replaced by the stone in her heart or maybe it had only ever been an illusion.

She reached the top, finally.

Her hands didn't go through the hollow space inside. The tree had filled in, building up and budding with white flowers where the demon had been. They blew away, scentless and small as stars in the dark.

The demon had left behind flowers when they woke.

Kagome wondered what they were doing.

She curled on the roots and waited.

She woke in the morning, the alarm on her watch beeping at her. It was six am, and her birthday was officially over, and she still felt numb.

The forest floor was littered with tiny white flowers, circling in some wind that Kagome couldn't feel. Goosebumps prickled on her skin, the sensation that something was watching her making her shiver.

There was a clicking sound, like nails against glass, and then Kagome was being lifted from the air. She pushed against the clamp around her waist, but another click and there was another around her neck.

She couldn't see what had her, but from the corner of her eye she saw insect legs… With a twist of her neck, she could see insect legs all the way to increasingly distant ground. The leg across her neck tightened, a laugh belting up from above.

Kagome couldn't scream. Her fingers clawed uselessly against the leg, the pressure against her waist and her neck blooming in black bruises.

She was going to die, not by any of her strange illnesses, but by some monster from the imaginary fairy tale she'd dreamed up when she was twelve.

And she couldn't even scream for help.

She didn't know if it was tears leaking from her eyes or if it was just wetness from the monster choking her, but her face was cold. In her blurred vision, she could see over the small circle that was the forest, could see branches and roots and shrubbery lacing out from it and ebbing into the surrounding city.

From this angle, it looked less like the city had suffocated the forest and more like the forest was eating the city.

Spots slid across Kagome's vision, her hands fumbling over the monster's arms.

 _I'm really going to die…_

She hadn't expected to die, even if she'd never imagined living very long.

Everything was falling, flashes of gold and thick-hot black squelching over her. She gasped, coughed, fell.

Someone caught her.

Someone gold and silver and too-solid to be human.

And then she was flying.

Her head throbbed, but that wasn't new.

She could feel bruises—deep bruises—on her torso. Her neck wouldn't move. Was it broken? Maybe she'd finally broken a bone after all.

She couldn't move.

Was all this darkness night? Or had she just failed to open her eyes?

Everything was too hard, too much. It hurt, to be awake.

She fell back to sleep, but not before hearing her mother's voice over her, wavering on a night-time story.

She must have really worried everyone, if her mom was telling her stories like she was a child again.

This time, she didn't have to wonder if she'd opened her eyes.

The light was blinding in her room, too bright. It sliced through the pain in her head, burning up her vision. "Mom?"

Her voice was croaky, broken, just a whisper from a still swollen throat. Her mother was at her side anyway, cold rag in her hand and a worried expression. Why hadn't they taken her to the hospital?

She wondered if she'd really gone through what she remembered.

Maybe it had all been a horrible dream. Maybe she'd only fallen from the trees branches, with her giant bag filled with stupid, useless tools. Maybe she'd never even gotten to pull the girl out.

Maybe she would go back to her forest and find the girl still waiting.

 _I'm not a girl! Now I know you're not her._

She knew better. She hadn't made up that voice.

 _Where's Kikyo?_

Who's Kikyo?

"Are you thirsty, Kagome?" Her mother offered her a sliver of ice, but Kagome shook her head. The small action sent arrows of pain through her neck, pulsing across her headache like she'd been stabbed. She lifted her hand, and was glad to see she could still move her arms. Everything was sore.

"No, dear, you really mustn't try to move. You've been through so much," Her mother ran her hand over her forehead.

"Not nearly as much as she's going to go through, now that she's awoken the jewel."

Kagome's eyes widened, but she didn't dare try to turn her head to see who'd spoken.

She didn't need to, she recognized that voice. "D-demon?"

"Inuyasha. I don't like introductions."

Kagome wished she could see this demon, this Inuyasha, who'd somehow ended up in her home after leaving her in a forest to fend for herself. She tried to will them closer to her, but no one moved to answer her silent pleading.

"He brought you back, said he found you because of your… because of your scent." Her mother stumbled over the words. Kagome wondered if she'd realized that Inuyasha was why she'd gone to the forest so often.

She wondered if her mother had made any assumptions.

"I found her because she was bleeding all over the place, and the smell was nauseating." Inuyasha scoffed, but he sounded closer. "Besides, she's got a lot of explaining to do."

Kagome closed her eyes. Explaining anything sounded exhausting. Her body wasn't up for it. Her mind had barely caught up to everything that had happened.

She fell asleep again, instead. Something warm and too-solid brushed the hair away from her face as she drifted off.

She didn't know how long she drifted in and out of consciousness. Someone was always by her side, and she never woke in a hospital. They must have tied her Grandpa up and locked him in the shrine, because he'd always drug her to the hospital for everything. Now she was undeniably hurt, and they'd stuck her on her own bed in her own room to be watched over by a self-proclaimed demon.

She wondered about her family sometimes.

Finally, she woke up and felt strong enough to push herself into a sitting position.

Her room was a wreck.

Bits of chips crumbled everywhere, the bags balled up into a small pile beside her bed. One of her bed posts had been shredded, the top completely snapped off. The entire room looked like it had been trampled by a stampede of large, uncoordinated animals.

Sleeping on a stack of clothes thrown over her beanbag chair was the silver-haired, golden skinned demon.

 _Inuyasha. Their name is Inuyasha._

Kagome opened her mouth to talk, unsure whether the sound that came out would be her voice or the raspy, broken voice from earlier.

"In-Inuyasha?" One of the demon's ears twitched, but they didn't move.

Kagome covered her mouth, wincing at her bruises even as she stifled a laugh. Inuyasha's mouth was open wide in the middle of a loud snore, their arm wrapped around a fox toy Kagome had gotten years ago from Koga.

For a demon, they were absolutely adorable.

She cleared her throat, then wished she hadn't. She tried to speak again, forcing herself to talk as loudly as she could. "Inuyasha!"

It was barely a whisper, but this time both ears twitched, and Kagome saw the demon's nose scrunch up.

They sat up slow, and she was surprised to see that she really and truly hadn't been mistaken. Their eyes were gold, catching the light from her window and turning molten just as they faced her.

If she hadn't heard them say themselves that they were a demon, she may have wondered if they were a magical spirit. They certainly didn't look like they could hurt anyone.

"What're you looking at?" Inuyasha frowned, crossing the room in two quick steps. "Are you finally up?"

Kagome looked down at the bandages wrapped around her middle, and the cushions they'd surrounded her with. She flexed her arms, tried to twist. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. She nodded. Besides, she was starting to feel sore all over just from laying there.

"Good. We're not done killing that demon yet. You're going to have to shoot it."

Kagome's mouth dropped. "Shoot?"

"Yeah, you know. Shoot it. With an arrow." Inuyasha rolled their eyes, as if they were talking to a child. "You've got the jewel. It's going to keep coming after you until you kill it."

"Kill it?" Kagome's throat hurt again and she wondered if she could feign sleep if she just fell back right now.

"Are you just going to repeat what I say? Because if you are, this is going to get real old, real fast." Inuyasha crossed their arms, their expression sour.

"I can't." She coughed, the words getting harder to say. A knot grew in her throat, heavy and hard.

"Shut up. Of course you can, you're Kikyo." Inuyasha scowled. "Well, you're… close to her. I haven't figured it out yet."

Kagome shook her head, but she didn't think Inuyasha saw.

She wasn't Kikyo. She'd never even heard of Kikyo.

"The longer you rest, the more danger everyone around here is. This is the biggest village I've ever seen." Inuyasha moved closer to her, pulling her arms away and tugging her shirt up to look at her waist.

Her face burned red, even though she knew they couldn't see anything. "Stop that."

"Stop talking. I can practically smell the pain coming off you," they snapped.

Kagome bit her lip, bringing her hand to rub against her neck.

"Yeah, well. If you'd just gone home, none of this would have happened." They straightened, averting their eyes from hers.

Kagome gaped. They felt guilty… They felt guilty for leaving her alone.

"S-sorry."

Inuyasha rolled their eyes. "Just get up and get moving, we've got to stop it. Where's your bow?"

Kagome shook her head. She didn't know what they meant.

"Arrows? You know, stick with a string? Come on, don't tell me you don't have a—" Their scowl deepened as Kagome continued to shake their head. "Well what are we supposed to do? Are you telling me you're completely useless?"

Kagome's hands clenched into fists at her side. She didn't have the strength to yell any more, but she didn't appreciate being called useless.

After all, Inuyasha would still be stuck to the tree if she hadn't pulled them down.

"Well, you've got to be able to do something, or else you wouldn't have the jewel." Inuyasha swooped down on her, pulling her up by her arms onto their back. "We don't have time to waste. The Forest will only hold a demon like that for so long."

Kagome squeaked as she was flying again.

Only, now that she was awake, she realized she wasn't flying. Inuyasha was jumping.

They just happened to jump very, very high.

She flailed, but their grip on her was too tight. They weren't going to let her go. They were going to take her back into that forest, and she was going to have to face that thing— _demon_ , her mind whispered.

She whimpered, and Inuyasha growled in response.

She didn't want to fight a demon. She just wanted to go home and heal and possibly confess everything to her mother.

They entered the thicket of trees that Kagome always took into the woods before she had managed to get away, and she gave in to the fact that she couldn't escape this.

Inuyasha's back was warm, their hair blowing into her face and tickling her nose. They smelled like a forest on fire, trees carved out with black-ash scars. She buried her head in their back to keep from watching the ground and panicking.

With their body blocking the wind, Kagome could almost convince herself that they were just running really fast.

That was only slightly less terrifying when she thought of them dropping her.

They crashed through the woods. Inuyasha wasn't even trying to be quiet. They came skidding to a halt. Kagome could see Inuyasha's sharp clawed feet digging into the earth, dirt piling up over their toes.

A familiar clicking echoed in the trees. It was softer, still a ways off, but Kagome recognized it. It was the same clicking she'd heard when the monster had attacked her before.

She peeked out from Inuyasha's shoulder, eyes widening as she followed the black, slick centipede body up to a woman's torso.

A woman's torso with six arms, and a tongue that lolled out to her navel.

Kagome screamed, and Inuyasha shouted at her to shut it. The demon clicked towards them, the same shrill laugh echoing around them as the one that Kagome had heard while it held her.

"Jewel! You've got the jewel!" It cackled, black hair spilling over its shoulder. Its face morphed and twisted, and Kagome realized it had four eyes, a small diamond darkening their forehead.

 _Strike it there,_ a voice slithered through her thoughts. Kagome caught herself reaching to her back without thinking.

What had she been reaching for?

Kagome stomped her foot, feeling the sharp ache of bruises across her middle. Inuyasha dropped her gently to her feet.

"Stay here, I'm going to see if I can bring it down." They cracked their knuckles, their too solid hands twisted into an animal like claw. "And you better figure out some way to keep it down, or else it's just going to keep coming back."

Kagome hummed in disapproval, but Inuyasha was already off.

They were incredible to watch. They leapt, higher than Kagome could have imagined possible. They were so sure, their movements showing no hesitation even as they tackled the massive monster with their whole body.

The creature twisted in their grip, screeching as Inuyasha's nails dug into its shell, cracking and pulling apart segments of its body. The monster coiled around them. Kagome heard a pop, followed by a strangled yelp from Inuyasha.

A shout and a flash of gold later, and Inuyasha burst from its center, raining centipede legs and mushed demon parts onto the forest floor.

They seeped black smoke and black blood, bubbling hot over the leaves.

 _Strike it now!_

Kagome reacted on instinct, her body feeling more sure than it ever had. She snapped up one of its legs, hefting it over her shoulder like a spear, and searched for the creatures diamond marked face.

It had to be hit in the head, between the eyes, at the only spot of weakness it had.

Kagome didn't know how she knew this, but she did.

She closed her eyes and prayed to any listening spirit that they'd lead her makeshift weapon to wherever it needed to go. "Inuyasha, watch out!"

Her voice broke and squeaked, but Inuyasha seemed to hear her. They didn't even turn to see what she was doing, they only ducked, silver hair swinging up as they dropped to their knees.

She threw the leg, watching it soar through the air…

It landed at one of the creatures many legs, its coil shaking as it laughed at her.

Inuyasha turned to glare at her. "Next time you tell me to move, you better not miss! What even was that!?"

She wanted to shout that she couldn't help it if she'd never fought a demon before, but knew it wouldn't do any good. Inuyasha was already back in the fight, their arms swinging in elegant arcs that cut the air.

She searched for something, anything, to help.

 _Strike it!_

She picked up another fallen leg. The ground was littered with dozens of them, most of them connected to twitching bits of tissue. She kicked off the underbelly hanging from this one and ran. "Inuyasha, pick me up!"

They'd said she'd have to be the one to kill it.

Because of some jewel.

The monster had said something about a jewel too.

"Kinda busy here!" They looked over their shoulder to see her running towards them and cursed. "You tryin' to get yourself killed?"

She didn't bother shouting this time, only pointed with her free hand towards the diamond shape. Inuyasha followed her finger and nodded, scooping her up to their back.

They leapt, hopping from curve to curve of the monster's body, until Kagome could see the red glow of its eyes.

She thrust the point of the leg forward, crushing through the monster's forehead. It gave a deafening cry, squealing as it crashed down.

This time, it didn't twitch itself back up.

When they landed, Inuyasha didn't put her down, as if they could sense that she'd not be able to stand on her own after being so close to the demon.

"You know, I guess you're not completely useless." Inuyasha muttered, their arms linked beneath her knees. "Still not as good as Kikyo. She'd have dealt with that demon with one arrow.

She wheezed a laugh into their hair. "Not Kikyo."

"Yeah, I guess not." Inuyasha didn't sound disappointed, just curious.

If Kagome was honest, she was curious too.

What was this new story she'd unfolded?


	3. Chapter Three: The 500 Year Old Shrine

**Chapter Three: The 500 Year Old Shrine**

Kagome sat at her table, chewing her noodles slowly.

She was back to her disbelief that this demon could hurt anyone.

They were slurping down noodles by the bowlful. Kagome wasn't even sure they were tasting them.

"Uh, be careful. Those are… They were fresh." She nibbled, looking down at the pale, slithery white noodles in broth.

She grimaced, pushing the bowl away. She couldn't get the image of the centipede legs crashing through the Forest out of her mind.

"Is there more of that?" Inuyasha asked, noodle still stuck to their chin. "It was… Actually really good."

"Yeah, my mom makes the best." She pushed her bowl towards them. "You can have mine."

They didn't even say thanks, they just dug in. A couple of minutes later, they lay back, hand patting their distended stomach. "I haven't eaten like that since…"

Kagome watched them as they went silent, eyes narrowing as they stared out the window at the edge of trees. "Are you ok? Everything must be so different, considering your clothes. I haven't seen anything like that on normal people."

They plucked at the red fabric draped over them, humming. "When's the next new moon?"

Kagome frowned. "I… I don't know?" She looked outside. "I can find out, I guess?"

"Do that." They stood, bare feet thumping against the wood in cracking steps. "I'm going to go clean off all these demon bits."

"But… do you know how to use the shower?" She watched them walk out of the house, confusion furrowing her brow. "Where are you going?"

"To… bathe?" They looked around, as if they were looking for what they were supposed to do. "Don't you guys bathe here?"

"I mean, yes!" She blushed, averting her eyes from the rips in their shirt. "It's just… Look, follow me."

She shoved them through the narrow hallway, into the white tiled bathroom. "That," she pointed to the showerhead, "is where the water comes from. You turn it on with these." She twisted the knobs.

She waited, sticking her hand under the water until it was a reasonable temperature. "Just, use these—"

She coughed on the instruction she was about to give them, dropping the shampoo and conditioner into the shower.

They'd already gotten naked, their clothes hanging by one nail on their too-solid hands, their brows drawn together. "You can make it rain in your house?"

"Um… I… W-what are you doing?" She covered her eyes and turned around. Her hands were wet, but she didn't dare remove them.

"I'm going to bathe, remember?" They grumbled.

"You put pot of those things in your hair and there's soap on the shelf!" She said, all in one breath, and then ran out.

They probably wouldn't know how to turn the shower off, but that wasn't her concern.

She should have realized that a demon who was obviously not from here wouldn't know anything about privacy. She needed to find a way to figure out where—or when—they were from.

She ducked in, covering her eyes and waving her hands around the floor until they connected with a familiar feeling fabric. It was warm to the touch, and rough.

She pulled it back with her, running before the demon could look around and see her stealing their things.

It was well made, whatever it was. She hadn't felt fabric like it before, warm all over despite the big airy sleeves and its many layers.

She sat beside her computer, pulling an extra chair beside her so she could arrange the pieces. It was complicated, a strange puzzle to figure out for someone who wasn't trained in the way to do it, but she managed after a long while.

She tried typing in a description of it. It looked like a mishmash of different things she'd seen and read about. Hitatare, with the slits in the sleeves and the tie over the front looked the most promising, but she couldn't find anything in a bright red fabric like this one. She checked, just to be sure, for any sign of who'd made it, but looking it over three times didn't give anything away.

There were nicks and a few loose threads, but it was in surprisingly good shape for being stuck in that tree for so long. Kagome tried to see if anyone who may wear this (maybe they were at a festival? Maybe they had a job somewhere traditional?

Kagome rubbed her eyes with her palms, trying to clear the dust from between her ears to speed along her thoughts.

"Why'd you take my shirt?" The voice, full of arrogance and glass, rolled over her. She jumped up, slamming her laptop short enough to shatter it.

She cursed, tossing their shirt back at them, and dashing across the room. "You're dressed right?"

She peeked between her fingers when they didn't answer. "You can't just sneak up on people like that!"

They were dressed, thankfully. She watched them flop their shirt-flap over and tie it. They did it wrong.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, you can't just throw it over like that. The internet said—"

"The internet? Who's the internet?" They glowered at her, their gold eyes catching the sunlight from the window and making Kagome's breath catch.

She shook it off with a huff. "It's like… a book with all the information in the world in it."

 _How can they not know what the internet is? Ok, so they have to have at least been in the tree for… three decades._

Kagome's eyes bugged as she smoothed the flap of their top, her fingers fumbling over the tie. "How old are you?"

Inuyasha looked at her, head tilted to the side and ears twitching. "How old are you?" They said carefully, frowning.

She was starting to wonder if their face was stuck that way. "I asked first."

"Yeah, well." And they walked off, smoothing their hands over their newly fixed shirt.

"Hey! You're supposed to answer me!" She stomped her foot, following after them as they stepped out from the room. "What did you do with your towel? Don't you want different clothes?"

They stopped so suddenly that she nearly collided with their back. "Don't you ever stop talking?"

Kagome's mouth dropped open, her usually pale cheeks turning red. "Excuse me?"

"Do you have different clothes?" They turned around, and Kagome found herself nose-to-chest, less than a foot away from them.

"What?"

"You asked if I wanted different clothes." They said, like she was acting like a child.

"Well, yeah, but, I just mean. You've been wearing those for…" _At least thirty years._ "A long time."

"My outfit still fits fine." They tugged at their sleeves. "Do you have new clothes, though?"

"Um." She looked over them, at their broad shoulders and their height. "Um, probably not any that would fit you, no."

"Then what'd you offer for?" They glared at her, then stomped outside.

"Where are you going?" She shouted.

"To get new clothes!"

"I thought yours were fine?"

But they were already gone, their bare feet carrying them away faster than Kagome had seen anyone run before. They didn't even have any money. How were they going to get clothes?

Kagome crossed her arms and determined she wouldn't care.

She stared at the door for an hour, pretending to watch television until Sota came in and pointed out that it'd been playing his video game homescreen the entire time.

She'd rolled her eyes and shut the screen off, picking up her laptop and making sure she hadn't actually shattered it.

If she couldn't figure out where Inuyasha came from, she was going to figure out Kikyo's story.

A google search brought up three Facebook pages and one Tumblr, as well as one obscure textbook on the Occult buried in Amazon results.

Kagome sighed, resting her head on her chin and clicking through the pages.

None of these people looked to be in their 30s. And certainly none of them belong to anything that would require Inuyasha dress like they did. She was nearly ready to give up and go searching for the demon, certain they'd gotten themselves into trouble, when something caught her eye.

"Family Shrine, resting ground to the great spiritual Priestess Kikyo." Kagome hummed, checking the address… It wasn't far away. "It might be worth it to go check it out."

"Of course it would. If you're here, Kikyo has to be. I think I've figured it out. Are you her sister, Kaede? You don't look like Kaeda, but she was little when I knew her." Inuyasha leaned against the doorframe, their nails tapping hard against the wood.

"Who's Kaede?" Kagome rubbed her hands over her head. "I told you, I'm Kagome!"

"Hm." They were on her in a flash, pulling her hands away from her cheeks with a studious expression.

They were warm, their hands nearly too hot as they stretched out her fingers. They were solid like stone, even as they touched Kagome's index finger with feather-light softness. "There's no marks from the bow. No callouses."

Kagome tried to think of a response, but she couldn't think past the hand in hers.

Inuyasha was looking at her with that expression again. It was the same one they'd worn in the forest, before they'd run off. This time, their feet was planted firmly on the ground, their eyes scanning Kagome's face for something familiar, something she knew they wouldn't find.

"I'm sorry," Kagome whispered. They flinched, dropping her hand.

"It's not like I needed her anyway." Inuyasha turned on their heel. "I found clothes."

"You did?" Kagome followed them, her legs feeling shaky.

Her hands were still warm. She resisted the urge to smooth them over her skin, and stuck them in her pockets instead.

"Yeah. I guess there from your village. I saw other people wearing them."

"How did you get them?" Kagome bit her lip. "I mean, I don't mean to imply anything, I just didn't think you'd have any… any money."

They turned, tilting their head to give her an incredulous look. "I'm a demon, remember. I just took them."

Kagome gaped. "You stole them?"

"I didn't steal them! They were just left sitting out, and I just took a few." But their cheeks were red. "Anyway, I noticed no one in your village dresses like I do, and if I'm going to find my way home, I better not draw attention to myself."

Kagome frowned. "Are you in some kind of danger?"

"What do you not understand about demon?!" They rolled their eyes. "Can I get changed, or are you going to freak out again?"

Kagome felt her face heat up. She turned around, crossing her arms. "You're ridiculous."

They didn't respond.

The heat in her cheeks moved down her neck. She'd already seen them naked, and her memory was far too accurate to be this close to them so quickly. She hurried out of the room and closed the door behind her, sliding down until she could see her feet straight out in front of her.

"This is ridiculous. Inuyasha can't really be a demon. That thing couldn't have happened. You must have bumped your head really, really bad. You're going to go outside and find the tree like it always is, and this is going to be totally over." Kagome nodded, then heard someone knock on the door behind her. "I couldn't even have a minute of pretending everything was normal," she muttered.

"You know, I have dog ears. My hearing is much better than yours." Inuyasha leaned down, glaring at her.

Kagome couldn't be bothered to see it.

They looked… adorable, but she couldn't let them go in public like this.

They wore a crop top, baby blue with a white cat squinting at her from the middle. The black jeans were well fitted, at least. Obviously, whatever girl they'd stolen it from was quite fashionable.

"So, did you uh… Did you pick those out yourself?" Kagome asked, tugging the front of the shirt down.

A small hood flopped over their shoulder. That would cover the ears, at least. Probably. Kagome considered the long silver hair that disappeared into the scoop necked shirt.

"They were the only ones hanging outside." They scratched at their ears, as if they could sense Kagome staring at them.

"It's uh… It's not the usual choice." She looked them over. It didn't look bad, she guessed. Just unusual. It would probably be fine until she was able to buy them some clothes of their own. "Are they going to get mad if they see you in them?"

"Why, you got somewhere you need to be?" They scowled at her.

Kagome thought of the shrine, the address stuck in her head. It couldn't hurt to go check the place out. "Actually, yeah. I do."

"They won't find them. It was… Well, I went a few villages over." They stuffed their hands in the pockets of their jeans, copying Kagome's behavior from earlier.

Kagome wondered if they meant neighborhoods, of if they'd found their way out of the city. Kagome doubted they managed to get that far so quickly. "We'll just make sure they don't see you."

"Whatever." They grumbled, but didn't argue any further. They kneeled down in front of her, braced for Kagome to climb on their back. "Where are we going?"

"Um, do you know where the Shrine of the Stone Priestess is?"

They only gave her a deadpan stare over their shoulder.

"Yeah, ok. Didn't think so. Well, I remember the address. I'll just… I'll just tell you how to get there." She'd have to do a little guess work, but if they did the running/jumping thing they did before, she was sure she'd see it.

They took over two hours to find it, and they did by accident.

The shrine didn't look how she'd expected.

She'd expected a quaint, neat little shrine, probably being watched over by an old man like her grandpa.

Instead, they'd stopped in a grassy field because Inuyasha was annoyed that her directions had dissolved into "Maybe… it's that way?" with her pointing in multiple directions. They'd taken three steps away from her, pouting and grumbling, and then stood entirely still.

They didn't move for so long, that Kagome had wondered if they had fallen asleep standing up, as some kind of weird side effect of the tree.

She kept waiting for them to have some kind of side effect of from the tree, but that's not what was happening.

Inuyasha was staring into the trees, at the shade and the vines growing up crumbling trunks. Their shoulders were still, not even moving in the shallow fall of breaths.

Kagome followed their gaze, seeing nothing but blackness in the trees.

She walked the line of their vision, pushing passed thin, whip-like branches and crunching passed newly fallen leaves. She didn't see what they saw until she'd nearly walked into it.

It was the statue of a woman, covered in green and brown, dirt and leaves and dust covering her up to her knees. Kagome brushed caked on dirt from the woman's face. Inuyasha still hadn't moved.

Moss came away in large clumps, revealing the Priestess outfit beneath.

This was the Stone Priestess then.

Kagome looked the woman over, surprised at the detail they'd manage to carve onto her. Even the rock she was carved from, porous and rough as it was, was beautiful. It retained the green of the grass and the moss, stained in cool greys and pale silvery lines where nature had scratched over it.

Her fingers brushed over something engraved, nearly worn smooth by time. She traced the letters, sounding them out as she finished digging mud away.

It said Kikyo.

She wasn't surprised. After all, that's who the shrine was supposed to be dedicated to.

"Inuyasha, she's—"

"She looks like you." They said, their too-solid hands caressing the serious faced statue's cheek. "This was her."

"Was?" Kagome looked for any sign of a year, but whatever one had been on it must have eroded away. "Isn't she like you?"

"No." Inuyasha didn't elaborate. "Kagome, let's go."

"Don't you want to—"

"No." Inuyasha wouldn't look at her. They didn't wait for her to say anything else, just lifted her into their arms and ran.

Kagome watched the shrine get smaller and smaller in the distance, a bright green jewel in a circle of trees.

Kagome wondered if those trees had once been part of the woods behind her house. If all of them had once met up in a great forest that covered acres and acres of land.

She thought of the shrubbery and branches stretching out into the city and wondered if the forest remembered.

Inuyasha dropped her off in her living room, and then disappeared into the night.

Kagome didn't see them for the rest of the night.

She couldn't get the statue's face from her mind. The Priestess had looked so sad


End file.
